Working Life

The folks that are going to buy Chrysler–the private equity firm of Cerberus Capital Management–are working hard to reassure the UAW and rank-and-file workers that a bunch of workers are not heading for the unemployment line. I’m skeptical–mainly for the long haul. The Wall Street Journal has this today (subscription only):   Leaders of the […]

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Yesterday, I did a television interview about the buy-out of Chrysler by a private-equity firm. It was striking to me during that interview—and is reaffirmed if you read the MSM coverage of the story—how much the story is being framed entirely around the “sacrifices” that the rank-and-file workers will have to make to keep Chrysler […]

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I am glad Paul Krugman is a columnist for The New York Times. He is one of the great voices exposing the incompetence and dishonesty of the Bush Administration on all matters economic and chimes in usually quite well on foreign policy. But, he has one blind spot—-trade. His column today does a great disservice […]

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My email box runneth over with various statements from union leaders on the trade deal struck between the Administration and Charlie Rangel and some of his sidekicks in the Democratic leadership. Anna Burger, chair of the Change To Win federation, had this to say. Jim Hoffa, president of the Teamsters, weighed in. AFL-CIO President John […]

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    We still need to read the fine print regarding the trade deal that was struck yesterday between the Administration and House Democrats (or, to be more precise, Ways and Means Chair Charlie Rangel). But, I’m always struck by the way in which liberals and even a few progressives (note: there is a difference) still […]

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    Two different explanations are now being offered for the explosion at the Sago Mine in Central Virginia last year, which killed 12 miners. The United Mine Workers are skeptical of the official inquiry–and I think rightly so. Here’s what Cecil Roberts, the union’s president, says: “The report by the Mine Safety and Health Administration […]

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    I can hear the thunder of feet as people rush to Maryland…just kidding. But it is nice to see that the governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, signed a statewide living wage bill–the first in the nation. From Steve Greenhouse’s piece in The New York Times: Nationwide, 145 cities and counties have enacted living-wage bills, […]

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    Back on my particular hobby horse today on the idiotic description of the issues around trade. And, as usual, The New York Times is the reason. Robin toner has a piece today entitled “For Democrats, New Challenge in Age-Old Rift.” The article is kind of a profile of Rep. Sander Levin, who chairs the […]

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    New info today from The Wall Street Journal on the change in Chinese labor laws, changes that have been bitterly opposed by the business community: China is putting the final touches on its most significant overhaul of workplace regulation in a decade, in an unusual process that has sparked debate on the trade-off between […]

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    Evidence the surge–escalation–is working… Roadside bombs killed eight American soldiers in separate attacks Sunday in Diyala province and Baghdad, and a car bomb claimed 30 more lives in a wholesale food market in a part of the Iraqi capital where sectarian tensions are on the rise. In all, at least 95 Iraqis were killed […]

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